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Sean Penn Misses Oscars Ceremony Amid Reports of Planned Trip to Ukraine
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American actor Sean Penn, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a military zealot in Paul Thomas Anderson’s political drama One Battle After Another, did not attend the ceremony on March 15, reportedly traveling to Europe instead with plans to visit Ukraine.
This was reported by The New York Times on March 16, citing sources familiar with the matter.
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According to two people who spoke on condition of anonymity, Penn left the United States before the broadcast and intended to travel to Ukraine.
The sources did not specify the purpose of the visit or the exact location he planned to go to.
It remains unclear whether Penn ultimately arrived in Ukraine, as his itinerary could have changed after his departure from the United States, as reported by The New York Times.
Penn has repeatedly visited Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In 2022, he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said at the time that the actor was working on a documentary about the war.
“Actor and director Sean Penn is working on a documentary about the war in Ukraine. From the first day of the full-scale invasion, he was in Kyiv and saw with his own eyes what Russian aggression is. The whole world will soon be able to see the full truth about the war thanks to his film. Sean, thank you for supporting our state and our people,” Zelenskyy said.
During previous visits, Penn traveled to Kyiv as well as to Bucha and Irpin, where he documented the aftermath of Russian attacks while filming the project.
The actor has continued to support Ukrainian cultural projects, most recently appearing in the anthology film War Through the Eyes of Animals. Sean Penn joined the production for a symbolic fee of one dollar, the project’s producer Oleh Kokhan said in an interview with Suspilne Culture.
According to Kokhan, Penn agreed to participate after reviewing the script, watching the filmed material, and meeting with director Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi. Under Screen Actors Guild rules, he could not work entirely for free, so the fee was set at the minimum symbolic amount.
War Through the Eyes of Animals brings together seven short films by seven Ukrainian directors, each inspired by real stories of animal rescues during the war. Penn appears in the segment titled The Eagle.
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